Article: Affordable magic: 3D software is now within everyone's reach. (Post-Production).

Prices for top-of-the-line 3D software are falling like lead rain. Alias/Wavefront Maya Complete now costs $1,999. NewTek LightWave 3D 7.5 costs $1,595. Frankly, I'm excited about it, and worried at the same time. This pricing shift opens the door to legions of new users.

The reason I'm worried is that packages like Maya, Light-Wave, Discreet 3ds max and Side Effects Software Houdini are very expensive to maintain. It will do us no good to have a cheap Maya Complete if its creator can't afford to keep up the lab team that continually makes it better. To be fair, AliasiWavefront claims that the lower price won't affect its R&D effort. The company still plans to ...

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